1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a device for side delivery of crops, grass or grain that is adapted for use with flail type harvesters, reel mowers, rotary mowers set at an angle towards the front, rotary tedders and reel tedders. All these machines raise the picked-up crop, grain or grass from the ground and throw it in an arc to the rear.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The arrangement of one or more transverse conveyor belts which are arranged behind the implements across the full width in a substantially vertical plane are known from German Patent Specifications No. 203,972, No. 416,981 and No. 652,455 for mowing machinery. These devices are designed to convey the grain to one side directly after cutting, to turn it over at the same time and deposit it, as required, in a swath. In order to be able to pick up the grain which is still upright after cutting, the transverse conveyor belts are arranged directly behind the cutter or table connected thereto. The cut grain is in contact with the ground here.
From U.S. Pat. No. 3,343,347 it is known to use transverse conveyor means arranged behind a cutting mechanism in a windrower type harvester. The conveyor means of this structure are arranged in such a manner that the cut crop is directed over the leading edge to the laterally shiftable conveyor means which run in a horizontal plane.
The introduction of the combine harvester in the field of agricultural engineering has made this type of side depositing more or less superfluous. The swath boards or baskets used nowadays only exert a limited effect on directional depositing of the grain which is freshly cut or already lying on the ground because they always work behind the machine.
Accordingly, hay-making after cutting of the grain is always carried out by means of two machines under present standards. One type of machine is designed to scatter the swath; the second type of machine serves to collect the scattered grain and to form a swath. The first type incorporates fork tedders, reel tedders and rotary tedders. All these machines work such that their rotating implements (fingers) lift the freshly mown or already part-dried grain off the ground and throw through the air with a more or less salient throw component, the grain being opened up and falling loosely to the ground, fanned out to a fairly wide degree. Collecting to form a swath overnight or after sufficient drying for loading onto a wagon or feeding a press is carried out almost always by means of a finger-wheel rake, a machine having several finger wheels which are arranged in staggered fashion behind one another and partly intersect in the direction of travel. Said finger wheels shift aside the grain lying on the ground in such a manner that the grain picked up by the foremost finger wheel is conveyed to the next wheel and from there to the one behind, the grain finally being deposited in the form of a swath behind the rearmost and last finger wheel. The finger wheels of this machine are either driven positively by the power take-off of the tractor towing them or are caused to rotate as they are pulled across the ground.
One disadvantage of finger-wheel rakes is that the fingers attached to the wheels have to come close to the ground or even project into it, meaning that they damage the turf as they move across the field; they get bent or even break off as they strike objects on the ground and tear out particles of earth as they shift the grain aside. Moreover, side delivery rakes of this kind require a great deal of room and are relatively heavy, the finger wheels running very erratically and often jumping, especially when they are driven at high speed as they are pulled across the ground.